Running a 1.7 N/A Diesel without electrics

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ianselva
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Running a 1.7 N/A Diesel without electrics

Post by ianselva »

This may seem a strange subject but I am taking my Citroen camper to Italy soon and the last time I went to Portugal the only that let me down was the electrics. The alternator failed and I thought I could drive to the destination without problems once the motor was started , but the engine STOP solenoid drains the battery in about 20 minutes.
So any ideas how the injector pump can be jury rigged to run without the solenoid flattening the battery ?

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Ian
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mat_fenwick
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Post by mat_fenwick »

If you remove the stop solenoid, pull out the plunger and then replace the solenoid without re-connecting the wire that should do the trick!

Presumably though, the alternator has been replaced since the last trip, so you would be extremely unlucky to have the same problem again…
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ianselva
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Post by ianselva »

Thanks for that, I'll give it a test.
The alternator AND car have been replaced so it could still happen.!
When it happened last time it was at least 20 miles from civilization in the centre of Spain and caused me no end of trouble as I was taking my racing car to Portugal for a race and not a lot of time to spare.

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mat_fenwick
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Post by mat_fenwick »

20 minutes sounds like a short time for the battery to last if it was just the stop solenoid draining it. I have driven for a couple of hours in my van with no alternator belt (2 week old belt snapped!) with lights and wipers without any problems.
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ianselva
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Post by ianselva »

It was only a small racing car battery. We stopped with a flat battery and I though that would no trouble , Took the battery out of the racer , started it and off we go , should be able to go all the way to Porto before we have to waste time finding and fixing the fault. However it was almost exactly 20 minutes including a start before it stopped again.
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Post by Way2go »

Depending on how the alternator failed you also could have had a short or low resistance path through the faulty alternator which would see the battery discharged quickly. :?
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Post by DavidRutherford »

20 minutes does indicate that there was something else draining the battery quite seriously. The stop-solenoid draw is fairly minimal, something like 0.2A IIRC. Even on a tiny little 7Ah Sealed Lead Acid battery that should still have lasted many hours.
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mat_fenwick
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Post by mat_fenwick »

I reckon it was probably the two starts that drained it...
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ianselva
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Post by ianselva »

It certainly drew a lot more than 0.2Amp as we recharged the battery in Porto and set off and it went flat again within a couple of hours . In fact it stopped halfway up a very steep two lane hill with a convoy of lorries behind. I had to jump out and do a quick battery change to get up the hill out of the valley. It may have been that the failed alternator was drawing current as well.
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Post by ianselva »

I just checked and it takes 1.5 Amp just for the solenoid, if you add in a couple of starts and stoplights on the car and trailer it probably adds up OK.
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Post by Vanny »

remember that if you remove the stop solenoid, you have no way to stop the engine! You cn stick it in fith gear and dump the clutch to stall it, but i've seen that fail to work. If you have the right bosch pump then there is a lever you can throw to cut the fuel, but personally i would want a tap in the fuel line!

1.5A is a huge coil, i mean its a coil and all, but a tiny coil, and when you think that my valver will continue to run until the battery is down to about 6v.
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Post by jeremy »

The Roto-diesel has a stop lever as well - my recollection is that it has to be pushed towards the engine block which makes it difficult to connect a string to it and lead out out through the grill so that it can be grabbed from outside.
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